Demonstrations are taking place across the country, with protesters angry over inflation, crime, and other issues in the post-Chavez era.

Here is what has been happening lately:

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Six experts with the United Nation’s top human rights body wrote to the administration of President Nicolas Maduro about allegations of protesters being beaten and in some cases severely tortured by security forces, and taken to military facilities, cut off from communication and denied legal help, U.N. officials said.

“The recent violence amid protests in Venezuela need to be urgently and thoroughly investigated, and perpetrators must be held accountable,” the experts said in a joint statement.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blamed the month-old unrest shaking his country on a “minority” that has left the opposition in a difficult situation.

“Those who have started the violence are in the minority,” Maduro said.”It’s a tiny group belonging to the opposition and they have put the rest of the opposition in a dire situation.”

Maduro also renewed his call for establishing a new level of relations with the United States after years of frosty relations. CNN released only excerpts of the interview hosted by Christiane Amanpour, which it said would air in full Friday.

The Venezuelan government ordered Panama’s ambassador Pedro Pereira, charge d’affaires Jaime Serrano and two other embassy officials to leave the country within 48 hours, a Panamanian official said Thursday, a day after Caracas broke ties with Panama City.

“We received a note from the foreign ministry of Venezuela that was delivered to our embassy in which it declared four diplomats working in our embassy as ‘persona non grata,’” Panama’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mayra Arosemena told reporters.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Wednesday he was breaking diplomatic ties with Panama after the country called a meeting of North and Latin American nations over weeks of sometimes violent protests in Caracas. Maduro also said he was freezing all trade and economic ties with the Central American nation.

The end of Carnival was marked with more protests. The government had been pushing for citizens to enjoy the holiday, in hopes it would diminish tension. (March 4, 2014)

An opposition leader turned himself in, with hopes it would spur the protests on. Things got heated after Leopoldo Lopez’s jailing, and a beauty queen was killed. (Feb 18, 2014)

There was a meeting with the UN and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and defended the government’s actions before the U.N. Human Rights Council. Jaua said only three of those killed were due to illegal acts by the police. (March 3, 2014)

Where: Protests have been happening all over Venezuela, with much of it focused on Caracas.

The origins: While the anger has been around awhile, a early February incident at University of the Andes in San Cristobal where students protested after a recent assault on campus may have been the spark. Local authorities responded to the protest, and furor was ignited at the harsh response.

Why: Food shortages, rising crime, and incredible inflation have made things rough for the country.

The players: President Nicolas Maduro, who was close to Hugo Chavez; Leopoldo López, a mayor and opposition leader; Maria Corina Machado, an opposition parliament member